{"id":8673,"date":"2012-12-05T18:44:10","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T23:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=8673"},"modified":"2012-12-05T18:44:10","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T23:44:10","slug":"being-between-heaven-and-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=8673","title":{"rendered":"Being Between Heaven And Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being Between Heaven and Earth<\/h1>\n

Debi Dunn<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Just the other day, a 95 year old qigong student of mine, Maria, approached me after class apologizing for having arrived late.\u00a0 \u201cYou see,\u201d she said, \u201c2pm is my naptime. I have difficulty staying awake and getting to class during that time on Mondays.\u00a0 But I always feel better when I do my qigong and tai chi walking.\u00a0 So I just have to be here; I wouldn\u2019t miss it for the world.\u201d\u00a0 Now Cynthia is very inspirational to me, having lived a healthy long life with five daughters, many grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even \u201cgreat greats\u201d as she calls them.\u00a0 She is very intelligent, tall at about 5\u201910\u201d, and most assuredly the \u201cgrand dame\u201d of the class of 80-95 year olds who are still vital and move so gracefully doing their weekly tai chi qigong class with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also have the privilege of being a Stress Management professor at a local university.\u00a0 My Tuesday and Thursday classes are filled with junior and senior level college students with the average age of 20.\u00a0 What a difference in ages I experience in the first two days of each week. The students think at 50-something I am old as many of their parents are my age.\u00a0 My seniors like Maria think I am still \u201cso young\u201d as I am the age of many of their children.\u00a0 I guess you would say I am part of that sandwich generation also referred to as the Baby Boomers.\u00a0 We boomers are somewhere between that oh so young millennial generation and facing our inevitable journey into our golden years.\u00a0 Sometimes I feel very conflicted about where I have been and where I am going?\u00a0 But these two groups have truly enlightened me.<\/span><\/p>\n

This teaching experience has led me to contemplate many times about the concept of longevity and how our American culture views it.\u00a0 The Chinese culture, as well as many other cultures of the world, greatly value living a long, happy, and prosperous life.\u00a0 In fact there are many symbols in Chinese art representing long life such as bamboo, the crane and even pine trees. Sau, the Chinese god of longevity, is often depicted riding a deer (another symbol of longevity) and holding a gourd attached to the end of his staff which is said to hold the elixir of life or immortality. Qigong was and is still performed as an essential form of restorative energy exercise for longevity and wellness. It is an important part of the Chinese medical system including acupuncture, acupressure, herbs and meditation.\u00a0 The whole design of the system is to preserve health, prevent illness and disease so a person would be able to journey gracefully into healthy old age. I was once told by a very famous Chinese qigong teacher that if you practice qigong and t\u2019ai chi daily for a long time you can actually turn back your biological clock 10 years.\u00a0 Hmm, maybe that\u2019s why strangers think my age is more like 40-something?\u00a0 Slowing down the aging process is a wonderful thing!\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Now my young college \u201ckids\u201d, as I affectionately refer to them at times, are very focused on the pleasures of our earthly existence.\u00a0 I sometimes think they believe they will live forever no matter what happens.\u00a0 So the concept of living a long virtuous life isn\u2019t really something they contemplate.\u00a0 \u00a0One young man arrived in class with his IPOD ear buds inserted into his ears, carrying his IPAD while texting on his IPHONE\u2026all at the same time.\u00a0 I was so amazed that he didn\u2019t trip.\u00a0 They are all very annoyed when I tell them to \u201cunplug\u201d all electronics during class; or I will be collecting them for the duration of the class.\u00a0 As part of the Stress Management syllabus, I ask each student to prepare a 5-page autobiography of their lives so far and who has inspired or affected their lives the most.\u00a0 Then I have them do a series of assessments to evaluate where they feel they are currently in terms of personality type, life concerns, college life, family influences and even spirituality.\u00a0 Part of the final project is to design a large poster-sized Vision Board made up of all types of visual images representing what they wish, or intend, for their futures. This is the highlight of my semester to see each student present to the class how they would like to see their lives unfold.\u00a0 What fabulous dreams these young people have!\u00a0 No one can quite see past the age of 60 or so however.<\/span><\/p>\n

One major observation I have made with this population in America is their lack of understanding of what spirituality is and that they often confuse it with religion.\u00a0 Their main goal seems to be to proceed through life happily and healthfully with lots of money to enjoy now and when they retire.\u00a0 I ask the question of them to think forward to the age of 80 and tell me, and the class, what they would like to have contributed to others, what would they like their legacy to be? Now granted, these students have a tough time writing \u00a0an autobiography of 5 typed pages, double-spaced\u201d \u00a0as their life experience has consisted of being born (traumatic for some), grade school, middle school, high school and college.\u00a0 So they have great difficulty understanding what longevity means to them.\u00a0 They struggle with the concept of cultivating one\u2019s spirit most importantly and to learn to release negative emotions which are at the core of their stress.\u00a0 They are all about being in their own body\/mind and often exhibit poor body image. They are caught up in many energetic emotional blockages that create depression, anxiety, inner rage and self esteem issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

One young woman however, gave me a glimmer of hope that maybe a few of them were really reaching to understand the concept of what longevity meant to them.\u00a0 She was presenting her vision board when she pointed to a photo of her 4 best friends.\u00a0 She explained that her friends had been out partying and were hit by a drunk driver two weeks earlier, and all were killed instantly.\u00a0 There was a hush in the classroom.\u00a0 She tearfully made the public statement that from now on she would never drink, smoke, or hurt anyone.\u00a0 She made the proclamation that she owed it to her friends to live a long, healthy, and prosperous life. She would work on her own emotional issues and really reach to find her spiritual self.\u00a0 She was also going to practice meditation, qigong and yoga, and eat healthier. I was speechless.\u00a0 She touched many lives, including mine that day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now my senior group on the other hand is quite the opposite.\u00a0 They are facing what each one conceives of what the afterlife, or heaven, might be like.\u00a0 And for some, death is the end of the body\u2019s existence. But for others their concept mirrors the importance of spirit as that energetic essence that exists forever beyond our earthly life. \u00a0One Monday afternoon, Carol, about 80 years old or so, was sitting in class looking very sad.\u00a0 Her husband had died a couple months earlier; and she was grieving.\u00a0 I always do an ending meditation, or relaxation time for the class.\u00a0 This day, I said, in ending, \u201cjust let your soul sing and your spirit soar up into the heavens, find a cloud and just lay back relaxing and enjoying the pure bliss and energy of being part of all there is.\u201d\u00a0 I heard some light weeping coming from Carol, just perceptible to me.\u00a0 I approached her after class, hugged her, and asked her what was wrong.\u00a0 She said, \u201cMy husband and I always talked about sitting up there on a cloud in the heavens holding hands and being as one.\u00a0 Now he is gone, and my spirit needs to be with his and God\u2019s forever.\u00a0 We are immortal you know. We live forever.\u201d\u00a0 Four months later she found her way to that cloud.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

So for me, I am here in my Standing Qigong position balancing between heaven and earth contemplating my own place in it all. I know that my life-long purpose is to \u201clet my light \/spirit shine, be a source of strength and courage, share my wisdom, and radiate love.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maria \u201cqi walked\u201d right past me yesterday with her walker, shaking her hips from side to side in a kind of proud swagger, and said,\u00a0 \u201cI am getting really good at this.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ll live to be 100. But that\u2019ll be just long enough!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Debi Dunn<\/p><\/div>\n

Debi Dunn, MBA, is a Certified Level III Advanced Qigong Instructor through the National Qigong Association.\u00a0 She is also a professor of Stress Management at West Chester University, West Chester, PA, and holds additional certifications in yoga, meditation, Reiki, and is an EFT (emotional freedom technique) practitioner.\u00a0 Debi scripted and co-produced two \u201cQigong for Everyone\u201d dvds, \u201cThe Basics\u201d, and \u201cDesigning Your Own Practice\u201d, and a meditation cd, \u201cTranquil Journeys\u201d.\u00a0 She has studied qigong and t\u2019ai chi with Master Nan Lu, Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, Brother Bernard Seif, Sifu Sara Gellhorn, and Ken Cohen.\u00a0 Debi also presents meeting breaks and stress management workshops at a variety of major corporations.\u00a0 In 2001, Debi survived successful brain surgery to remove a benign tumor and began to question her soul\u2019s purpose in life after 20 years in corporate life.\u00a0 She rediscovered her true inner self and rededicated her life\u2019s work to becoming a compassionate healing presence for others.\u00a0 As a holistic educator, she teaches students and clients how to take charge of their body-mind-spirit balance through integrated healing modalities.\u00a0 www.theheartofhealing.com<\/span><\/p>\n

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